gear giveaway

Distortion Pedals

Crazy Tube Circuits Motherload Drive

The Crazy Tube Circuits Motherload is an intriguing take on the hybrid distortion/fuzz pedal that borrows from two iconic circuits (the Muff and the Rat) to offer at once some old and new sonic flavors. This is not a dual-channel pedal, but rather a one-channel dirtbox with a range of voices.…Click on the title for more

Crazy Tube Circuits Motherload Drive

Electro-Harmonix Hell Melter

The Electro-Harmonix Hell Melter, as you may have guessed, is not a pedal for the gentle electric guitarist. Catering to the metal crowd (those who use their 6-string to "melt" stuff), this stompbox is a love letter to the "chainsaw" tone made popular by a string of Swedish Death Metal…Click on the title for more

Electro-Harmonix Hell Melter

All Pedal 1987 Distortion + Delay (Steel Panther Collab)

Built for LA's comedic glam-metal band Steel Panther, the Allpedal 1987 is a dual delay + distortion pedal with the two effects placed in series (distortion first, delay after) and triggered by separate footswitches. The fully analog circuit is pretty straightforward, with three knobs each for each effect: Level, Feedback…Click on the title for more

All Pedal 1987 Distortion + Delay (Steel Panther Collab)

Benson Amps Preamp Overdrive/Distortion

The Benson Amps Preamp Overdrive/Distortion (listed at $249) sports a circuit Based on the company's Chimera 30 watt guitar amplifier (going for $1949), but substitutes FET transistors for the vacuum tubes. The result is an extremely amp-like and versatile clean boost/overdrive/fuzz pedal that imparts rich harmonics and a very musical EQ to your…Click on the title for more

Benson Amps Preamp Overdrive/Distortion

New Pedal: LiberaToe Blue Crow Overdrive & Distortion

The LiberaToe Blue Crow, a compact stompbox that can be embedded in a modular, cable-less pedalboard with other units by the same builder, is a versatile two-channel analog dirtbox delivering, at the flick of a toggle switch, classic overdrive and vintage-style distortion inspired by the hard rock tones of the…Click on the title for more

New Pedal: LiberaToe Blue Crow Overdrive & Distortion

New Pedal Kit: Korg Nu:Tekt HS-2 Harmonic Distortion

Developed by Fumio Mieda, the original designer of many legendary KORG pedals and synths like the Univibe and the MS-20 Mini, the Nu:Tekt HS-2 Harmonic Distortion is a new DIY kit pedal by the Japanese builder's subsidiary. The pedals in the kit series, which was launched a few years ago…Click on the title for more

New Pedal Kit: Korg Nu:Tekt HS-2 Harmonic Distortion

Summer School Science Fair

The Summer School Science Fair is an overdrive-distortion pedal based on a simple but innovative idea: you've got a RAT-stile distortion (black knobs) and a TS-style overdrive (green knobs) in parallel, and two extra knobs to control for master volume and bland control. Each gain channel has a knob for…Click on the title for more

Summer School Science Fair

New Pedal: Sitek Cocoa Distortion

Hailing from Poland, the Sitek Cocoa is a distortion that can be filed under the growing category of "versatile gain pedals." What's noteworthy, in this case, is that you can get a wide variety of tones out of this opamp-based circuit through a limited number of controls: three knobs and…Click on the title for more

New Pedal: Sitek Cocoa Distortion

New Pedal: Empress Heavy Menace

At first glance, the Empress Heavy Menace seems like a pedal that might win the contest for "most tweakable distortion pedal in a compact case." Also, it looks very cool, notwithstanding its demonic references! An evolution in compact case of the company's popular Heavy pedal, the Heavy Menace could be…Click on the title for more

New Pedal: Empress Heavy Menace

Pigtronix Disnortion Micro

This new micro version of the Pigtronix Disnortion Micro improves on the original’s broad palette of touch-responsive dirt sounds by including the ability to switch from a parallel routing to a new, super-saturated series routing where the 6-stage CMOS overdrive circuit is cascaded into unique Pigtronix diode-clipping fuzz, and then…Click on the title for more

Pigtronix Disnortion Micro

Strymon Riverside Multistage Drive

Strymon, a company that built its name on clean, warm and lush tones, has finally entered the "dirty" pedal distortion market with Riverside, described as "the culmination of a thorough analysis of numerous analog and vacuum tube circuits." The company's goal was to deliver a new world of harmonically rich, versatile,…Click on the title for more

Strymon Riverside Multistage Drive

New Pedal: Ohms Pedals Stolen Horse

NOT a Klon clone (as some may have assumed from the name/graphics combo), the Ohms Pedals Stolen Horse is a LOUD distortion pedal using an original circuit based on multi-stage opamp clipping with plenty of tweakability. The gain circuit was designed to produce amp-like tones from clean to heavily distorted,…Click on the title for more

New Pedal: Ohms Pedals Stolen Horse